Natural Injustice (Part One)

Home

After Care

Compensation

Live Feed

Fittedin

Angela Grobben's Human Rights: My name is Charity Lee: My name is Charity Lee. In 1980, when I was only six years ol... http://t.co/VhKAG6Vr

Sunday, 15 April 2012 via AutoTweet Connector

Fittedin

About the Project: Angela Grobben: Human Rights Correspondent A life long human rights campaigner Angela's organisat... http://t.co/0pkXFeTy

Sunday, 15 April 2012 via AutoTweet Connector

Fittedin

Angela Grobben's Human Rights: Bill Pelke & The Journey of Hope: Journey of Hope…from Violence to Healing The ... http://t.co/wsyQWq1V

Sunday, 15 April 2012 via AutoTweet Connector

Fittedin

About the Project: Patron : Michael Mansfield QC Called to the Bar in 1967 Michael Mansfield has a BA Hons. degre... http://t.co/hXJPb2ed

Wednesday, 04 April 2012 via AutoTweet Connector

Fittedin

About the Project: FIP Supporters: Gareth Peirce – Solicitor specialising in defence work. She has represented too ... http://t.co/3Jt0cqLm

Wednesday, 04 April 2012 via AutoTweet Connector

Fittedin

About the Project: Trustee : Andrew David Barclay (Dave), BSc, MSc, DSc, FFSSoc. Expertise and Cases Dave ... http://t.co/lprjOtUG

Wednesday, 04 April 2012 via AutoTweet Connector

Fittedin

News: Unfit for Purpose: The Betrayal AccountabilityThe Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had an opportunity to as... http://t.co/NnQQasAP

Monday, 20 February 2012 via AutoTweet Connector

Fittedin

News: Unfit for Purpose: Independence An Independent EyeLast year an important anniversary passed without note. Th... http://t.co/RgClKjCT

Monday, 20 February 2012 via AutoTweet Connector

Fittedin

Angela Grobben's Human Rights: Please help Ashot to stay in the UK: Urgent Action Appeal Please ... http://t.co/JZd6AwKa

Thursday, 02 February 2012 via AutoTweet Connector

Fittedin

Lynette White: In The Name of God, Go!: In The Name of God, Go! “You have sat too long here for for any good you h... http://t.co/E1rUtVpn

Tuesday, 31 January 2012 via AutoTweet Connector

Fittedin

Columbia: Eyes on the Prize: Mainstream AgainConservative hegemony over Colombia had waned at gunpoint thanks to ... http://t.co/Nr1qMZFR

Wednesday, 18 January 2012 via AutoTweet Connector

Fittedin

Columbia: The Assassination and its Aftermath: The Assassination The Liberal Party's candidate for the Presidency... http://t.co/w8ci7MNv

Wednesday, 18 January 2012 via AutoTweet Connector

Fittedin

Columbia: Conspiracy Theories – Ospina's Difficulties: The Cast of Incredible SuspectsThere was no shortage of ... http://t.co/ckI4nDO7

Wednesday, 18 January 2012 via AutoTweet Connector

Fittedin

Columbia: Conspiracy Theories – A Fertile Breeding Ground: The Patsy?Jorge Eliécer Gaitán Ayala, the People's... http://t.co/z5DCgbVA

Wednesday, 18 January 2012 via AutoTweet Connector

Fittedin

Columbia: An Absurd Conspiracy Theory: The Agent?The People's Champion Jorge Eliécer Gaitán Ayala was dead, mur... http://t.co/oWBb909p

Wednesday, 18 January 2012 via AutoTweet Connector

Fittedin

Columbia: Conspiracy Theories – Castro's Revenge: A Convenient PresenceFidel Castro Ruz overthrew the corrupt d... http://t.co/KqbrCyQ8

Wednesday, 18 January 2012 via AutoTweet Connector

Fittedin

Columbia: The Formative Years of the People's Champion: Viva Gaitán! It was a crime that spawned an industry of con... http://t.co/3jGcg8MJ

Thursday, 12 January 2012 via AutoTweet Connector

Fittedin

Columbia: The People's Champion Comes of Age: A Pivotal Event Lawyer and Liberal Party politician Jorge Eliécer Gai... http://t.co/S8sIRGAT

Thursday, 12 January 2012 via AutoTweet Connector

Fittedin

Columbia: The Day Colombia's Path Took A Terrible Turn: Bad Rep Some struggles have gone on so long that fighting ... http://t.co/tozAoCO8

Thursday, 12 January 2012 via AutoTweet Connector

Fittedin

Columbia: Crass Stupidity: An Outrage Unsurprisingly the Santa Marta outrage – a strike by banana workers in the C... http://t.co/1YcRceJK

Thursday, 12 January 2012 via AutoTweet Connector

Fittedin

Angela Grobben's Human Rights: Seasons Greetings from the Journey of Hope...from Violence to Healing: Season's ... http://t.co/yFyrVR7T

Saturday, 31 December 2011 via AutoTweet Connector

Fittedin

News: House Rules: What are the House Rules? We've established the following House Rules.1. Opinions expressed i... http://t.co/OrXIJ7Gd

Tuesday, 06 December 2011 via AutoTweet Connector

Fittedin

Lynette White: I Write What I Like: “I write what I like,” Assassinated anti-apartheid activist Steve BikoAbysmal... http://t.co/I77TScPR

Friday, 02 December 2011 via AutoTweet Connector

Fittedin

News: Conspiracy Theories : Fiddling While Colombia BurnedDr. Jorge Eliécer Gaitán Ayala had looked almost certain ... http://t.co/UE7CJONz

Friday, 11 November 2011 via AutoTweet Connector

Fittedin

Test the DNA in Hank Skinner's Case! http://t.co/NmJELmbp #signon

Sunday, 30 October 2011 via web

Fittedin

News: The Forgotten Victims #Knox Case: Tragedies – the Primary VictimsThere are no winners – just tragedies and ... http://t.co/0rAQxqmL

Saturday, 08 October 2011 via AutoTweet Connector

Fittedin

Angela Grobben's Human Rights: Anti-Roma Demonstrations Spread Across Bulgaria: Anti-Roma Demonstrations Spread... http://t.co/aXdfXjir

Sunday, 02 October 2011 via AutoTweet Connector

Fittedin

Angela Grobben's Human Rights: Catholics must no longer support capital punishment: VATICAN CITY: Dead wrong: Cathol... http://t.co/araW4wlG

Saturday, 01 October 2011 via AutoTweet Connector

Fittedin

Angela Grobben's Human Rights: Decades without daylight: 'West Memphis Three' describe life in prison: Editor's... http://t.co/fkrlXWVw

Friday, 30 September 2011 via AutoTweet Connector

Fittedin

Angela Grobben's Human Rights: JON VENABLES & ROBERT THOMPSON , when children kill...: Friday 12th February 1993.... http://t.co/BwbQvixk

Wednesday, 28 September 2011 via AutoTweet Connector

Dec

Natural Injustice (Part One)

Written by Satish Sekar

Mean Spirited:
Over four years ago the then Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, decided that New Labour should get tough on those wronged by the state. The victims of injustice were to be punished further than just losing their liberty unjustly. In 1986 the former Home Secretary, Douglas Hurd, introduced a scheme that compensated people who did not qualify for compensation under the Statutory Scheme.

The Discretionary Scheme, as it came to be known, allowed people who had been wrongly convicted to receive compensation for their ordeal even if they had won their freedom quickly. People who won their freedom by having convictions quashed at a first appeal were not entitled to compensation as a right, because the system was said to be working well if it corrected a wrongful conviction at the first attempt. Hurd's policy allowed such people to be compensated, which in many cases was the closest the wrongly accused came to receiving an apology for what they had been through.

Abolished:
On April 19th 2006 Clarke abolished that scheme without consultation. Several lawyers, appalled by the mean-spirited decision, supported victims of miscarriages of justice who had lost out without knowing that the scheme would be abolished in challenging the decision in court. Shamefully, the former government won that challenge in 2007. It meant that the wrongfully convicted had little choice but to sue the police.

This meant spiralling legal fees – well actually it didn't. Attacks on legal aid made challenges difficult. Lawyers had to take a risk – no win, no fee. Few would do it, so in the midst of a financial catastrophe that governments made worse, some money was clawed back by punishing the innocent further. They could fend for themselves and suffer further hardship. In effect, how dare they fight against a wrongful conviction and win their freedom quickly and expect to be compensated for their troubles!

Shameful:
That our society tolerates such treatment of people whose crime was to show the criminal justice system to be fallible is utterly shameful. It is an abuse of human rights and stupid too. Deprived of justice at every turn, what do we expect the victims of these injustices to do? We spend fortunes getting it wrong in the first place, but we begrudge the wrongfully accused meagre resources that acknowledge the wrong done to them in our name.

Over a decade ago the European Convention of Human Rights was incorporated into our law. One of its provisions guarantees the right to family life. Wrongful accusations mangle that right and create alienation and resentment, not just in wrongfully accused people, but their families too. Not only have we deprived them of compensation – families were never entitled to compensation in their own right – but those who succeed on a first appeal, or worse still get acquitted, do not qualify for any assistance to rebuild their lives, even though a limited scheme to assist victims miscarriages of justice was approved and funded by the previous government.

Our treatment of these people condemns us in the court of international public opinion. It is a national – international – disgrace. By what right do we lecture foreign governments on human rights when we treat our own victims of injustice so badly? Doesn't this make our commitment to human rights hollow, at best, and utterly hypocritical. So what does the current government plan to do about another mess created by the previous administration?

Add comment

JComments

Main Menu

Live Feed

Add comment

Like Fitted In?

Latest Additions